One of the cruelest jokes we have ever played on ourselves is the naming of the memory medicine Ginkgo Biloba. Not a smart marketing strategy either. Nonetheless, the product tends to sell and a reason for the sales may simply be that most of us are plagued and frustrated by memory failures. These symptoms manifest itself in trying to remember a person's name, an item that our spouse asked us to pick up at the grocery store, or even simply the reason that we got up off of the couch, walked all the way into another room in the house and then stood there wondering why. Most of these situations can be comically laughed off; however, there are situations where memory failures can be quite problematic or even catastrophic.
A perfect example of a situation in which the adverse effect of memory lapses can be realized is in the taking or administering of medication. Depending on the medication and the individual, failure to take medication can result in severe harm. In view of this, one can appreciate that it can be very important to remember to take or administer medication, and to do so in a timely manner. Thus, what is needed in the art is a mechanism that can remind or notify an individual that he or she must take or administer medication, and even when the medication must be taken or administered.
Another example of a situation in which the adverse effect of memory lapses can be realized is in remembering that you have already received or administered a medication. Such memory lapses can result in an overdose of a medication. In view of this, one can appreciate that it would be advantageous to have a device that keeps track of taken and/or administered dosages, notifies or alerts an individual attempting to take or administer an overdose and/or takes measures to help prevent overdosing.
Most medications that are prescribed to individuals, as well as animals, are provided in containers, such as pill bottles, bottles of serum, or pill pouches etc. The packaging for medication can conveniently operate as a dosage reminder/control gateway in that the person taking or administering the medication at a minimum, must approach the packaging to obtain the dosage. In view of this characteristic, there is a need in the art for a dosage reminder or overdose preventer mechanism that can be attached to, adhered to or otherwise be associated with the packaging.
Related to these needs in the art there are additional needs in the art with respect to determining if a container in general has been opened, moved, tampered with, etc., as well as providing historical data about such activity with the container and providing alerts regarding such activity. These needs in the art can arise in a variety of settings, and a few examples include detecting movement or opening of a liquor bottle, detecting opening of a liquor or gun cabinet, detecting movement of a moisture testing apparatus, etc.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a device that can be used to detect when a container, such as a medicine package or otherwise, has been moved, opened or otherwise tampered with, collecting and storing information about such activity, and reporting to or alerting a person or system of such activity.